Dennoris Williams happily admits he likes to say, "I told you so." When he’s right, he wants everyone in the free world to know it. Repeatedly.

Just ask his son, Davion, a senior at Belleville who is about to spend the next four years playing football at Michigan State.

“All the time,” Williams said of how often his father reminds him whenever he happens to be correct. “All this fall he kept saying: ‘I told you so. I told you you’d be better at football.’ ‘’

Despite the fact that he had been a standout football player through junior high, Williams refused to consider playing football during his first two years of high school.

“When I took the job, they told me that Patrick Lupro was the best player on the team, but they said Davion was better,” said third-year Belleville football coach Jermain Crowell. “The guy who hired me said if we can get this kid out, he’s a freakish athlete.”

Williams' freakish athletic ability earned him spot on Belleville’s varsity basketball team as a freshman. From his first day on the court, Williams’ drives to the basket were breathtaking, and his leaping ability made him an amazing shot blocker and rebounder for his size.

Williams is 6-feet-1 — and while that is fine for high school basketball, 6-1 shooting guards are not in high demand at the college level.

He did receive a basketball scholarship offer from Eastern Michigan in his freshman year, which fueled his belief that he could become a college basketball player. But his father, who played football at Eastern Michigan, wasn’t convinced his son would be better off going the basketball route.

He kept reminding Williams of that. “After every basketball game, I used to tell him: ‘You thinking about getting back on that football field?’ “ his father said. “But he wanted to live that hoop dream.”

Williams reached the highest level of AAU basketball. The summer before his junior year he played well, but noticed that the 6-7 shooting guards were the ones turning the heads of college coaches.

However, he was not being ignored by Crowell, who repeatedly told him he could do better for him in football. Crowell insisted the things that made Williams an exceptional basketball player would make him even better in football.

When he did not receive much feedback from college basketball coaches the summer before his junior year, it dawned on Williams that he may have been putting an emphasis on the wrong sport. He didn’t abandon his dream — but he changed it from basketball to football.

“I decided to use basketball to help me in football to keep my dreams going,” he said. “I felt like some of the stuff in basketball are already in football — turning, how fast you act and react, staying in front of a guy.”

Williams joined the football team for his junior year and immediately found himself in the starting lineup as a cornerback. There was a adjustment period, but he proved to be a quick study.

“At the beginning of the season I was a little bit passive,” he said. “I didn’t really come up and lay the wood when I tackled somebody.”

By the end of the season, college football coaches were beginning to take notice. Last spring Williams received a football offer from MSU, which surprised him.

He thought it was made just to keep him interested until the MSU coaches could determine if he was good enough to play at the Big Ten level.

Last summer, Williams took part in MSU's Izzo Shootout, which annually attracts the top basketball teams in the state. When he took the court for a Saturday morning basketball game, sitting courtside were MSU football head coach Mark Dantonio and receivers coach Terrance Samuel.

After the game, Williams accompanied them to the football building, where he registered a 38-inch vertical jump, ran a 4.48 40-yard dash and played brilliantly in defensive back drills. By the time he was finished, Dantonio had convinced Williams that MSU’s offer was sincere — and Williams let Dantonio know he would be a Spartan.

Williams then had an excellent senior season in the secondary, becoming more aggressive in supporting the run.

“He did a good job getting off of blocks,” said Crowell. “He used to stay blocked. He did a really good job of recognizing runs, getting off blocks and coming up and making tackles, which is a major part of playing DB.”

As the season went on, fewer and fewer passes were being thrown to Williams’ side of the field, a tribute to his ability to stay with a receiver.

“I felt myself getting better; I could see it every day,” he said. “I was catching on to things. My covering skills. I feel a guy wouldn’t beat me one-on-one.”

He also showed some impressive receiving skills. With one second left in the first half in a game against Dearborn Fordson, Belleville quarterback Christian Dhue-Reid lofted a 44-yard pass into double coverage in the end zone. Williams used his 38-inch vertical to rise above the defensive backs and come down with the ball for a touchdown. Later, he picked up a fumble and returned it 85 yards for a score.

“I told Dantonio he would be a DB, but I don’t know about that,” said Crowell. “He’s got better ball skills than what I thought he had. He had a really, really good year for a second-year (high school) football player. It was an amazing year.”

While Williams may have surprised some people, his success was something dear old dad expected.

“It turned out real good,” said his father. “I loved it. It got the household better. There’s no more arguing. It’s smooth.

“I told you he could play.”

Mick McCabe is a former longtime columnist for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at mick.mccabe11@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter